The air defense of a large country is difficult.

People have forgotten the insane density (and cost) of NATO's Cold War SAM belts.

In Germany alone the HAWK belt consisted of (from North to South):
• 24× German
• 12× Dutch
• 8x Belgian
• 35× US Army
• 12× German

1/8 HAWK sites, each of which was filled with radars and missile launchers. (Photo: the Dutch HAWK site on Velmerstot in Germany).

Between the SAM belt and the border mobile radars, and short range air defense systems like Gepard, Roland, Chaparral, VADS, etc. as well as mobile
2/8

On April Fool's Day the head of the German Navy's Naval Aviation the #Marineflieger joked that the Marineflieger would finally get fighter jets again...

This should NOT be a joke.
This should be a high priority investment for the Bundeswehr.

A thread about 🇩🇪🇩🇰🇸🇪🇫🇮🇵🇱🇬🇧:
1/17 During the Cold War the West German & Danish navies' tasks were to:
• prevent the Soviet Baltic, East German & Polish fleets from transiting the Skagerrak
• prevent Warsaw Pact amphibious landings on the Danish isles

For this the German forces in Schleswig Holstein & the
2/17

The Soviet Union was losing the war against Germany.

Only the 🇺🇸 US industry saved the Soviets.

In 1941 in seven months of war in the East the Wehrmacht suffered 285,400 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,137,673 irrecoverable Soviet losses. A ratio of 1 to 11 (!).
1/6 In the 12 months of 1942 the Wehrmacht suffered 500,700 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,258,216 Soviet irrecoverable losses. A ratio of 1 to 6.5.

BUT from 1941 to 1942 Soviet average monthly losses decreased by 176,700 troops... because US Lend/Lease materiel began to arrive.
2/6

About the loss of British combat power:

During the Cold War the British Army was the smallest of the four big (🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹) European NATO armies.

The British Army fielded 13 brigades (+ the Royal Marines' Commando brigade), while Germany fielded 38 and Italy 25 brigades.
1/6 France fielded 12 divisions, which each had the strength of 2× standard NATO brigades.

But no one complained, because at the time the Royal Air Force was the biggest air force on the continent with some 800+ fighters & bombers. Only France fielded a comparable air force.
2/6

Air Force reductions in Europe 1989 - 2024
A look at 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇩🇪🇫🇷🇮🇹🇧🇪🇳🇱🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪🇫🇮🇨🇦🇵🇹🇪🇸

Let's start with fighter bases in Germany:
• left 1989
• right 2024

1/

Fighters based in Germany in 1989:

🇺🇸 156× F-16C Falcon, 72× F-15C Eagle, 58× F-4 Phantom II = 286
🇬🇧 96× Tornado, 32× Harrier GR.3, 32× Phantom FGR.2 = 160
🇩🇪 312× Tornado, 224× F-4 Phantom II, 168× Alpha Jets = 704
🇨🇦 54× CF-18 Hornet

Total: 1,204 fighters
2/

#Transnistria asking putin to annex it to russia is insane.

The center of Tiraspol, the capital of this russian created fake state, is barely 10km from Ukraine... and there are 0 geographical obstacles between Ukraine and Transnistria.

The six Ukrainian brigades currently
1/4 in the Odesa region (20,000+ battle hardened troops) outmatch the approximately 4,000 Transnistrian troops and 1,000 russian troops. And half of the Transnistrian troops are in the north, while half of the russians are on the other side of the Dniester in the city of Bender,
2/4

Wrong. The British needed arms and ammo to withstand a German invasion in 1940.

Every British soldier in this photo is equipped with US "surplus war supplies", that Roosevelt allowed to be shipped to the UK on 1 June 1940. Included were: 900 field guns with half a million
1/4

https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1759398123451883662

shells, 80,000 machine guns and half a million rifles with 125 million rounds. This allowed the UK to build up its forces after the defeat at Dunkirk.

Britain needed US materiel to survive the first two war years. Without this US help Hitler would have taken London.
2/4

🇺🇸 US Army material based or stored in depots in Europe in 1989 and what is left in 2024 in brackets:

Armor:
• M1A1 Abrams: 3,189 (0)
• M2 Bradley: 3,085 (0)

Artillery:
• (M109A3 & M110A2): 1,320 (M119: 12 & M777A2: 24)
• M270 MLRS: 288 (32)

1/4 Helicopters:
• Attack (AH-1F & AH-64): 572 (AH-64E: 24)
• Scout (OH-58C & OH-58D): 597 (0)

US Air Force fighters based in Europe in 1989:
• A-10 Thunderbolt: 144
• F-4G Phantom II: 58
• F-15C Eagle: 96
• F-16C Falcon: 244
• F-111E/F Aardvark: 186

Total: 728 fighter.
2/4

Some examples of operational equipment reductions from 1989 to 2024:

Let's start with main battle tanks:
🇩🇪 3,892 -> 248
🇫🇷 1,297 -> 200
🇮🇹 1,206 -> 200
🇬🇧 855 -> 148
🇳🇱 750 -> 16
🇸🇪 660 -> 110
🇩🇰 330 -> 44
🇧🇪 296 -> 0
1/6 Now artillery - first howitzers and in brackets multiple rocket launchers:

🇩🇪 1,206 (352) -> 104 (32)
🇮🇹 888 (18) -> 160 (18 + 18 ordered)
🇸🇪 822 -> 26
🇫🇷 608 (24) -> 96 (11)
🇳🇱 402 (18) -> 35 (20 ordered)
🇬🇧 357 (24) -> 156 (~40)
🇩🇰 306 -> 19 (8 ordered)
🇧🇪 162 -> 14
2/6

In 1989 the Italian Army fielded the following brigades:

• Alpine Brigade "Cadore"
• Alpine Brigade "Julia"
• Alpine Brigade "Orobica"
• Alpine Brigade "Taurinense"
• Alpine Brigade "Tridentina"
• Armored Brigade "Ariete"
• Armored Brigade "Centauro"
1/9 • Armored Brigade "Mameli"
• Armored Brigade "Pozzuolo del Friuli"
• Mechanized Brigade "Brescia"
• Mechanized Brigade "Garibaldi"
• Mechanized Brigade "Goito"
• Mechanized Brigade "Gorizia"
• Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna"
• Mechanized Brigade "Legnano"
2/9

In 1989 the British Army fielded the following active brigades:

In Great Britain:
• 1st Infantry Brigade
• 5th Airborne Brigade
• 19th Infantry Brigade
• 24th Airmobile Brigade

In Northern Ireland:
• 3rd Infantry Brigade
• 8th Infantry Brigade
• 39th Infantry Brigade
1/6 In W. Germany:
• 4th Armoured Brigade
• 6th Armoured Brigade
• 7th Armoured Brigade
• 11th Armoured Brigade
• 12th Armoured Brigade
• 20th Armoured Brigade
• 22nd Armoured Brigade
• 33rd Armoured Brigade
• Berlin Infantry Brigade

In Hong Kong:
• 48th Gurkha Brigade
2/6

German Army brigades 1990 vs. 2024 (wait for it):

In 1990:
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 1
• Panzerbrigade 2
• Panzerbrigade 3
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 4
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 5
• Panzerbrigade 6
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 7
• Panzerbrigade 8
• Panzerlehrbrigade 9
1/8 still 1990:
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 10
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 11
• Panzerbrigade 12
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 13
• Panzerbrigade 14
• Panzerbrigade 15
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 16
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 17
• Panzerbrigade 18
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 19
2/8

The West has allowed dictators and terrorists to get away with invasions, annexations, murders, terror attacks, chemical attacks, genocides...

After Assad, Iran, putin, Houthis, Hamas... now Venezuela's narco-dictator wants to invade, ethnically cleanse and annex part of a
1/4 neighboring country... and he is asking is people in a bonkers referendum (the 1st and 5th questions are INSANE) to legitimize his war crimes.

Weakness invites aggression.

As long as the West is failing to confront dictators and terrorists it will get worse and worse.
2/4

The people demanding Israel should just accept Hamas's terror and let Hamas escape punishment, and thus allowing Hamas to murder more Jews in the future - all of these people are either terrorists or anti-semites.

Israel can never please these people.

NEVER, as these people
1/4 will only be satisfied with Israel if Israel ceases to exist and all of its Jewish citizens are dead.

So, for what reason should Israel heed the demands of these people, who hate Israel and Jews. There is no way to please them, except by being dead.

Israel interest is to
2/4

Nazi Germany started a war by invading Poland.

Imperial Japan started a war by bombing Pearl Harbour.

Both were defeated on the battlefield and surrendered.

Everyone understands that the deaths of German and Japanese civilians were caused by their nations starting wars.
1/5 In the end defeat meant liberation for Germans and Japanese from their oppressive regimes.

Gaza started a war by invading Israel.

It was Gaza that started this war. Hamas rules Gaza. Everyone in government in Gaza is a member of Hamas. They decided to send their forces into
2/5

I am in Warsaw and was quite busy the last two weeks with the preparation for and then networking at the Heart of Europe International TV Festival... so I only found the time to work through two #Pentagon Ukraine Realignment papers.

So many new weapons for 🇺🇦 Ukraine 😃😃
1/14 So let's begin with the coolest stuff - there is a classified Army emergency missile procurement for $187.4m... which it seems isn't GMLRS, as that is under another classified section: $71.3m of GMLRS are being acquired. So: if it isn't GMLRS... what could it be 😉
2/n

As people wonder why I have only scorn for the Karabakh Armenian leaders:

Armenia's 1993 invasion of Azerbaijan was even more brutal than russia's invasion of Ukraine: massacres, expulsion of 300,000 civilians, every (!) building was burned down, war crimes upon war crimes.
1/4 The Karabakh Armenians then annexed the occupied areas and demanded the world recognize these as theirs, which would retroactively ok all their war crimes. This would also violate the UN Charter, the Helsinki Accords and the Paris Charter. In 2020 the Karabakh Armenians lost
2/4

Ukraine is pursuing 7 aims with its unabated drone strike campaign deep inside russia:

1) Degradation of russian military assets & defense capabilities.
2) Dissuasion of russian strikes on Ukraine's energy and heating infrastructure in the coming winter through deterrence.
1/4

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1697187538132205631

3) Demoralization of the russian people as the war finally exacts a toll from them too.
4) Humiliation of the kremlin, as it is unable to shoot down the drones or destroy Ukraine's drone production facilities.
5) Relocation of russian air assets further away from Ukraine to
2/4

The Ukrainian strategy is working.

The russians keep moving troops to the center of the Southern Front. Thus they thin out their lines everywhere else. This is opening gaps in the russian front, which the Ukrainians will exploit, when they feel the time is right.
1/7 Until then the Ukrainians are destroying russian forces in the center of the Southern Front with superior Western donated artillery: precision guided munitions like GMLRS, Excalibur, SMArt 155, Bonus to destroy russian equipment and DPICM to annihilate russian personnel.
2/7

Ukrainian troops I spoke to say that russia's Lancet kamikaze drones are currently the biggest problem they face on the battlefield... and that they have no solution to the problem yet.

First: No (!) NATO army has a solution to this problem, as all NATO armies lack a system
1/17 like i.e. the Skyranger capable to shoot down kamikaze drones... and the ridiculously low numbers of systems being ordered aren't gonna do any good.

If NATO militaries would have taken the drone threat serious, 60+ Skyranger would come of the production lines monthly now.
2/n

I have been very, very critical of the German government's slow response to russia's invasion and lack of weapon deliveries in 2022, BUT now I have to defend Germany: saying "only half of what Germany promised has been delivered" is bullshit.

Germany's military is out of
1/2 materiel to give to Ukraine. Almost all that has been pledged now comes from Germany's defense industry, which means it has to be produced first.
Germany never said everything would come right away - it has always said that everything pledged will arrive right after it has
2/4